The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Heuchera plant, botanically known as Heuchera×hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Royal Velvet’.
The new Heuchera is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Scottdale, Pa. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Heuchera cultivars having good plant vigor, dense and uniform plant habit, and showy and attractive flower and leaf coloration.
The new Heuchera was discovered by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Scottdale, Pa., from seedling progeny from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in May, 2000, of the Heuchera×hybrida Shenandoah Mountain, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,357, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Heuchera×hybrida identified as code number H99-9B, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Heuchera was selected by the Inventor in May, 2001. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable flower and foliage coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new Heuchera by cuttings in a controlled environment in Scottdale, Pa., since May, 2002, has shown that the unique features of this new Heuchera are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.